AAC also was the home club of Bobby Jones. Wait ... wasn't Jones' club East Lake Country Club? Then why does Atlanta Athletic Club claim to be "home club of the legendary golfer Robert Tyre (Bobby) Jones Jr." on its website? Both claims can't be right, right?
Actually, they are. Both Atlanta Athletic Club and East Lake Golf Club (home of the Tour Championship) can claim Jones' legacy, because once-upon-a-time they were the same thing.
AAC's original location was in Downtown Atlanta, and the club's golf course was East Lake Country Club - where Jones was a member. In the mid-1960s, AAC moved north of Atlanta into what is today the suburb of Johns Creek, building a new course. The old course became East Lake Golf Club, no longer affiliated with AAC, and later the site of the Tour Championship. So today, both AAC and East Lake can accurately cite their heritages as home to Jones - although Jones never actually played golf at the current AAC site.
Who won the previous PGAs at AAC?
- 2001 PGA Championship: David Toms beat Phil Mickelson by a stroke after successfully making par from the rough on the final hole, despite laying up short of water on the par-4.
- 1981 PGA Championship: Georgia native Larry Nelson was the popular "hometown" winner, beating Fuzzy Zoeller by four.
What do AAC's previous major champions have in common? All three are Southerners: Nelson and Pate are Georgians; Toms is from Louisiana. Could it be an advantage to be from the South when playing in Atlanta, a k a "Hotlanta"? Probably just coincidence.
And how about that weather for the week? The Weather Channel forecast for Johns Creek currently predicts high temperatures around 90F (32C). Given how hot much of the USA has been in Summer 2011, that doesn't seem bad at all (where I'm at has consistently been above 100F for much of the summer), but a lot depends on the humidity level.
Atlanta Athletic Club has also been the site of a U.S. Women's Open (1990, won by Betsy King) and - at its previous East Lake location - the 1963 Ryder Cup. That Ryder Cup is the one that gave the expression, "Nice putt, Alice!" to golf.
Atlanta Athletic Club Site of 2011 PGA Championship originally appeared on About.com Golf on Monday, August 8th, 2011 at 11:58:26.
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